Re: Privs

Simon Riggs <simon(at)2ndQuadrant(dot)com> writes:
> 1. DROP OWNED BY does not drop databases owned by the role. Should it? I
> would say not. This causes this strangeness

> postgres=# drop owned by fred;
> DROP OWNED
> postgres=# drop user fred;
> ERROR: role "fred" cannot be dropped because some objects depend on it
> DETAIL: access to database fred

Works as expected for me:

regression=# create user fred;
CREATE ROLE
regression=# create database dd owner = fred;
CREATE DATABASE
regression=# drop owned by fred;
DROP OWNED
regression=# drop user fred;
ERROR: role "fred" cannot be dropped because some objects depend on it
DETAIL: owner of database dd
regression=#

> 2. REASSIGN OWNED BY cannot be executed by the role that is being
> reassigned. It throws
> ERROR: permission denied to reassign objects

> It seems strange that you can GRANT a priv to another user, yet you
> cannot REASSIGN ownership.

Why do yo think that is strange? Giving away ownership is traditionally
forbidden in most privilege systems. If you don't see why, think about
it from a cracker's perspective.

> 3. CREATE DATABASE syntax is OWNER = x. We might wish to deprecate that
> (but not remove it) and add OWNED BY x to make the "OWNED BY" phrase
> work in all places that need owners.

That just moves the inconsistency from one place to another, ie the
OWNER option of CREATE DATABASE would work differently from every
other option.

regards, tom lane